When Uncle Bert flew in for a visit

By Glenis Green

A son needs his mum ... Bert Hinkler with his mother Frances in 1928 after his solo flight from England to Australia.

As an eight-year-old, Ron was among the privileged family members awarded a special cordoned off area in the Bundaberg paddock which marked his famous uncle's landing point after his pioneering solo flight from England to Australia in 1928.

Ron, who still lives in Bundaberg, has vivid memories of the crowd which gathered at the small field – now part of a city sportsground – including many who clambered onto rooftops for a better view.

"I remember there was a false alarm when someone saw a shape in the distance and the cry went up 'there he is' . . . but it was just a bird," he said.

"And I remember after he landed when he was at his mother's house in Gavan Street – he was very meticulous about the condition of his aircraft and he'd take everything to pieces. There'd be bits all over the back verandah and we'd give him a hand to clean it up.

"I remember when some of the dignitaries arrived and he even gave them something to do, cleaning the carbon off the pistons."

Bundaberg's most famous son, Hinkler was born in the city on December 8, 1892, as Herbert John Louis Hinkler.

The son of a mill worker, he was fascinated by flight and in 1910 he joined an aero club formed in Brisbane by Lindsay Campbell.

In 1911 and 1912 he built man-carrying gliders and flew them successfully at Mon Repos Beach near Bundaberg.

Setting off for England in 1913, Hinkler worked for a while with the Sopwith company before serving with distinction during World War I.

As chief test pilot for A.V. Roe and Co in Southampton from 1921 to 1926 and again until 1931, he created many aviation records – including his renowned England to Australia solo flight in 1928 and making the first solo flight across the South Atlantic in 1931.

He was accidentally killed on January 7, 1933, while attempting another solo flight from England to Australia and was buried with full military honours – at Mussolini's orders – in Florence, Italy.

Ron, pictured right at the Hinkler House Memorial Museum, said the news of his uncle's death stunned the Bundaberg community. He had been walking down a local street with Hinkler's mother, Lady Frances Hinkler, when they heard of the tragedy from reporters who had tracked them down.

"Of course Lady Hinkler was quite an identity in her own right – she had a Model A Ford which she drove very badly, but she was always on the go," he said.

Ron also remembers as a primary school student being taken out of class to sit on the school hill with the principal, Bill O'Shea, to watch his uncle perform daring aerial stunts.

Only later did he realise his mother had been in the plane with Hinkler doing loops as the aviator tried to make her airsick.

"But she was too good for him," he said.

Ron's father and Hinkler's brother, Jack, acted as forward managers for Hinkler's subsequent triumphant tour of Australia after his pioneering flight, ensuring the various town and city airstrips were suitable for landing.

In those days everyone liked to live off the Hinkler glory and Ron remembers being told a story by his father about a loudmouth who was boasting in a pub about his close associations with the family.

Jack let him sound off and when it came time to be introduced, he shook the boaster's hand and gave his name quietly.

"The bloke just looked at him and said 'I'll be buggered' and then walked straight out of the pub," Ron said.

Hinkler's memory is kept alive in Bundaberg's Hinkler House Memorial Museum, which is the rebuilt version of the detached house he built for himself on Thornhill Estate in Southampton, England.

Transferring the house, from which Hinkler had planned his great solo flights, was a huge undertaking embraced by Bundaberg and the nation in 1983. It now stands in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens overlooking the site where he landed on February 27, 1928.

A detailed account of the Hinkler history is available on the Hinkler House Memorial Museum website.

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